The Archbishop of Canterbury will attend the General Convention of The Episcopal Church; "Chicago Consultation" elevated to official status

It is now confirmed that the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will intervene attend the General Convention of The Episcopal Church, July 8-9 in Anaheim, California.

Apparently, he will participate in some sort of Bible study (exactly how and where is oddly left out - but one might speculate it will be with the House of Bishops, unless he just plans to just gather the remnant at a snack bar in Tomorrowland) and be a keynote speaker at some kind of "global economic forum" on July 8th - the details of which, including the event's name or sponsor, are also oddly left out.

Frankly, what I found perhaps of more interest than even this piece of news (which clearly 815 is downplaying - even dismissively spinning - for some reason) is this little item in the same story:

The many international guests invited to Anaheim include primates, bishops and provincial secretaries from many of the Anglican Communion's 38 provinces, especially those who have "not experienced our General Convention before and have very little understanding about how we operate as a church," said the Rev. Chuck Robertson, canon to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

Invitations are extended by the Episcopal Church's Partnerships Center, Jefferts Schori, the Church Pension Group, Trinity Church Wall Street in New York and the Chicago Consultation (a group that supports the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Christians in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.)

Note that "Chicago Consultation" (which is a self-appointed lobbying group formed as a strategic response from Integrity) has been elevated to a status on par with the official church organizations of The Episcopal Church, as well as the New York mega-bucks flagship church, Trinity Wall Street. The dioceses themselves (who should be the ones who are the primary official leadership since, well, it is their General Convention) aren't mentioned until later, even as an after-thought. After a while, it just becomes a farce.

No wonder Rowan Williams is coming. He's taking the Anglican Communion crisis quite seriously. He will have the opportunity to personally establish a mantra that could be used by moderates and the orthodox to rally General Convention for the Anglican Covenant before it's too late. It's abundantly clear that both Katharine Jefferts Schori and Bonnie Anderson have no intention of picking up that banner before their own office-terms conveniently expire.

Schori and Anderson have the power of the gavel, no doubt a powerful tool indeed, and now we see that the Chicago Consultation will officially be flying in their forces as well. Apparently, this does not yet discourage the Archbishop of Canterbury from personally intervening attending General Convention in this most crucial hour for The Episcopal Church.